The Mirror Crack'd Challenge - Art Shrine September Challenge

Instead of a physical prize this month we would like to offer our Winner a Guest Designer spot for a future challenge.

We hope our fabulous Design Team can inspire you. Please pop by their blogs and show them your appreciation.For my project this month I chose to work on the diagonal choosing Gothic/Steampunk + Shrine+Textures.Here is my finished project.

I began with a recycled tin that originally held game pieces.

I used the bottom part of the tin and began by covering it inside and out with aluminium tape. Once it was covered I painted the whole thing with black paint then rubbed most of it off again. I covered a piece of card with aluminium tape and then embossed it using an embossing folder. I painted this black, rubbed off most of the paint then covered it with Mahogonay distress stain. Once it had dried, I added some gel medium covered with crimson paint in various places on this piece. I then glued it into the bottom of the tin.

To add some visual interest I used some chipboard from Imagine If NZ. I coloured the moon and placed it behind the gothic arch window using some decorated paper from another project to look like the night sky and glued it to the right side of the tin. I cut the candelabra chipboard in half and painted it and glued it to the left side of the tin.

I painted up some Imagine If chipboard candles using gel medium mixed with red acrylic paint to give tem a glossy, waxy look.

For the wings I covered the chipboard with masking tape to give the appearance of feathers and painted them black.

I then used mahogany distress stain and gold paint to finish them off. I painted an old picture frame added an Imagine If chipboard bat and gem to the top and a small black rose to the bottom. I painted up a chipboard crown and added gems and then assembled everything inside the tin. I added a string of beads around the outside of the tin.

I made a small magic book from scraps of paper and card and I made a crystal ball using a bead, a piece from an earring and a small dragon charm. I added a small potion bottle and a red and black rose to the bottom right hand corner of the shrine.

I painted up two mini thread spools and added a design using hot glue. These I glued to the bottom of the shrine as feet.

I embossed and painted a pair of chipboard wings and added them to the sides of the shrine.

Because I wanted to hang the shrine on the wall rather than have it free standing I painted a recycled frame using white gesso and then added some crackle paste in random areas. On the backboard of the frame I painted white gesso then I stencilled it using white crackle paste. (My new favourite craft product). I then painted on and rubbed of some black paint. I assembled the frame and glued the tin to the inside of the frame. Once it was dry I add some black texture paste mixed with sand around the edges of the tin for a bit of texture. I also used this on areas on the frame and as a final touch I added some micro beads.

I created a cobweb on the small frame using hot glue and added a spider and the piece was finished.

I think this ticks all of the boxes for the challenge. It is definitely gothic, it can be classed as a shrine and it has plenty of texture.I hope you have enjoyed this project and that it inspires you to make your own project and enter it into the challenge.I am entering this project into the Fur and Feathers, Tooth and Claw challenge over at Haunted Design House. The feathers are on the skeleton's wings, the teeth and claws are on the dragons and bats have fur. I am also entering this project into the September Challenge over at Dream in Darkness Challenge blog.

I love this shrine! I am so into shrines right now and little makes like your awesome magic ball and all the details you have added to this piece made me just fall in love with it! And adding the frame for hanging was a unique and awesome idea! Fabulous! Thanks so much for playing with us at Dream in Darkness this month! Nan, CT

Fabulous! I love your shrine. I really really love the wings and how you made the texture, just wonderful! So much to spend time seeing and enjoying. Thanks so much for playing with us at Dream in Darkness!~CT kim